Group Therapy is awesome — healing allies for 14 is really good. Overcast is good because having Ion Cloud up more is great. Surging Flare is nice because 38 health is pretty good (if you had a mod that increased a damage ability by +8, you’d usually take it, right? And healing is better than damage). Laser Designator is great because prep phase reveal is powerful against Fades and Kaigins and such and it’s just 1 point. Temporal is also just 1 point and having random slows on your enemies is handy and may force them out of position.

#2 is a twist on the build that picks up Tenacious for unstoppable against stuff like Helio.

#3 is a very safe self-healing style that you can play if you’re expecting to be focused. Sudden Jolt helps you get your heal back up, Seeking Flare lets you position behind walls more often, Vain heals yourself, and Overcast and Laser Designator are just good.

#4 is an ally-buff build. I’ve never tried this build but basically you take energy boost to allies on 1 and 3, and Might on 4, with extra healing on your cloud and reduce cooldowns on your ult. This one could be interesting for duoQ play where you have a teammate running an energy build and you aim for 3+ ultimates.

#5 is kind of a hodgepodge of stuff I think is pretty decent but didn’t make it into the other builds. It’s not exactly meant to be a build by itself, but rather has some stuff you can sub in. Stable Ions is really good, extra turn on cloud is nice, but 3 points a bit steep. Flareburst is a free 15 damage which is pretty sick for a mod, but you have to have an ally next to an enemy reliably — very good in combination with something like Kaigin. Gravity Well is good because you can slow enemies and get them out of position. And Supernova, while it does weaken your beams, is pretty good as well, especially for beginners, as it makes your ultimate very easy to use. Even for experienced players, it’s not bad — it’s pretty reasonable that you might be able to hit 5 or 6 targets with 20 (100 or 120) instead of 3 or 4 with the 24 (72 or 96). I used to use it, moved away from it, may try it again. You can also go the other direction and take Focused Radiance, which isn’t bad.

Other thoughts: Apart from unstoppable vs. heavy-CC teams, and apart from the might in experimental build #4, I generally prefer enemy-affecting tools on my Paralazer over ally-affecting ones. Reason being that the weaken is something you apply to enemies, so you want a Paralazer that hits enemies, and in particular Aurora cannot benefit from the Might (because her only action that turn is the Paralazer) unless enemies are already standing in an Ion Cloud (possible synergy between Stable Ions and Surge of Might?). In general, Aurora’s mods are all quite good, so it’s hard to go wrong.

Regroup is reasonable on supports, I think, though I still prefer Fade. Second Wind is usually my go-to as I find I need as much self-healing as possible, but Brain Juice is pretty solid as well, especially in combination with something like Sudden Jolt. I’ve never tried Regenergy but you do occasionally have those massive 5- or 6-man Paralazers and you could get a TON of energy from that. I probably wouldn’t bother but it’s a thought.

#1 – I’d run this in Solo Queue. Self-healing is nice because honestly Solo Queue is a bit of a selfish mode sometimes. Unstop-bubble is good because on-demand unstoppable for only 1 point is pretty helpful. Catch of the Day gets you energy very quickly for only 1 point. Moray requires a bit of teamwork – replace this one if you don’t think you’ll have a good eel delivery service. But getting those bad boys jumping around early lets you focus on using your other abilities. Leech on ult is really nice, that extra health comes in super handy.

#2 – I like High Pressure – the damage increase is not insignificant. Heal in One is also not terrible – generally you don’t want to be healing only one ally, because Finn’s heal is so good if you can line it up on multiple teammates, but sometimes you have to – especially in solo queue, where teammates may not be very cooperative about that sort of thing.

Note: With either of these builds, you can substitute in Spout of Sight and possibly Bubble Trap against invisible enemies. You can also run Cast Away, but I think through walls is a bit of a crutch. It’s better to learn how to position to protect allies, and then run the mod later if you know exactly how you’ll benefit from it.

#1 is my go-to build. Chains hitting invisible is nice utility for just 1 point. Might on shields and Ironclad on ult are both extremely good in my opinion and I find I have the points, so why not pick them up? Wall’s mods aren’t that great; reduced cooldown isn’t really needed since you’ll have it up with your next Black Hole anyway and Helio’s main attack is very good to fill between turns. Electric Fence is pretty good, but if you land a good wall combo your enemies may dash the next turn anyway. Supermassive is quite good on Black Hole, as it lets your Black Hole target position properly for the following turn, but you can replace with Event Horizon vs. teams without much CC.

#2 is a defensive build — using Echo Hammer gives your Black Hole more shields and lets it become a fairly useful defensive tool.

#3 is basically a damage build — Sledge does fairly decent damage, and then you take Galvanic and Circuit to get that ultimate up as quickly as possible.

Recommended Catalysts: Second Wind, Fade, Your Choice

Second Wind is quite important, as Helio cannot actually heal. I would also note that among the usual Blast Phase catalyst options, Echo Boost may actually have some use on Helio with Build #1, as you have not only the Might buff on your shield but also Unstoppable on both Black Hole and ult — but I haven’t tried it.

Khita

Khita

Leaf (2) – Jelly Legs (2) – RFID (2) – Ready (1) – Deluge (3)

Leaf (2) – Resonant (1) – RFID (2) – Cover (2) – Deluge (3)

#1 – I almost always use this build. I think the extra segment on ultimate is amazing and would always run it, and Leaf in the Wind is very versatile for landing shots around cover (plus it’s fun to use). On Take Aim!, I like RFID because I think Prep Phase reveal is very good and helps ensure your team gets value from the mark, but you can swap it for Aim Assist if you are playing on a map with walls and/or against non-invisible enemies. Jelly Legs provides a cheap slow, which is very nice, and that leaves 1 point to pick up a situational Root, which is also nice. Good CC on the kit.

#2 – As above, I like Leaf and Deluge, and you can swap RFID for Aim Assist if you like. The main change is taking Resonant and Cover the Field. These mods are pretty decent – Resonant gives you extra energy which gets you your ultimate very quickly (but don’t have your team group up and shield them early unless you’re absolutely sure you won’t need it in the next 3 turns), and Cover the Field gives you more flexibility on where you can dash to and what you can hit, which is very important because you want to make sure you can dash where you need to.

Recommend Catalysts: Brain Juice / Second Wind, Fade, Your Choice

Brain Juice is very good on Khita. Reduces cooldown on shield, heal and dash — those are very important cooldowns! Second Wind is an OK option in general, but I do prefer Brain Juice on Khita even after the nerf. I like Fade for a dash catalyst, but Regroup is OK too. For a Blast Phase catalyst, I say your choice but I’d probably go with Probe on most supports unless I had a good reason not to.